Fast-moving vehicles on Runnymede Road south of Bloor Street West, including TTC buses, are accidents waiting to happen, say local residents, who are intent on finding a solution."I think all the neighbours share the same sentiment," said south Runnymede Road resident Brad Slade, who has lived in the neighbourhood for almost 10 years. "For me, the issue is the 30 km/h speed limit - most people ignore it. TTC buses seem to be the worst culprits. I've been on buses that've been screaming along Runnymede and I don't know why. It poses a threat when traffic is moving so fast."
Slade's neighbour Mark Ralston said he fears for pedestrians' safety, particularly children, because there is no form of protection or barrier between them and the road.
"There's no boulevard. There are lots of kids going to Swansea (Public) School. Three feet to the right and they would take the kids out and spread them all over Runnymede," said Ralston. "It's scary. Your heart skips a beat."
Ralston, who lives just steps from Rennie Park at the bottom of Runnymede Road, said he watches buses "just charging down the hill like there's no tomorrow."
"Are they trying to meet a schedule? Do they need more time," he said. "We've been looking at this for a while."
Both Ralston and 17-year south Runnymede Road resident Sherry Lowe-Bernie agree that if the bus drivers obeyed the 30 km/h speed limit, vehicular traffic behind them would have to follow suit.
"The (speed limit) signs have been up for two years," said Lowe-Bernie. "It's an accident waiting to happen. Lots of kids go down to Rennie Park."
TTC Spokesperson Danny Nicholson said he was aware some complaints had been received.
"Our TTC chief general manager has been made aware of the situation," he said. "It is being addressed."
While Const. Dan Rohde, who deals with traffic complaints within 11 Division, said that he hasn't caught any TTC buses for speeding on Runnymede Road, he told Ralston in an e-mail that in October of 2007, shortly after the speed limit was decreased from 40 km/h to a 30 km/h traffic calming zone that he had enforced the area 34 times over 25 hours. During that period, he issued a total of 149 "provincial offences tickets" to motorists.
"During a 2007 assessment of our traffic 'situation,' he wrote six tickets per hour over a 24-hour period," said Ralston. "That's got to be quite the record."
Ward 13 (Parkdale-High Park) Councillor Bill Saundercook said there has been a lot of correspondence between his office and some residents. A critical piece of information is the closeness of the buses to the pedestrians on the sidewalk, he said. Are bus drivers cognisant of their speed, the councillor wondered.
"We're prepared to sit down with residents on Runnymede Road to see what we can come up with," he said.
Currently, there are traffic modular islands that serve as traffic calming devices south of Bloor on Runnymede. Speed humps are not an option on the street because it is a bus route, Saundercook said.
"Two or three years ago, a residents' group came to me to discuss a different route for the Runnymede bus. One solution was to redesign the bus route so it's more of a one-way route. The main problem is the downhill route on Runnymede south. Buses are heavy. Gravity plays a role. If a young child is standing on the sidewalk, that's a scary situation," said Saundercook.
Instead, he suggested that when it leaves Runnymede Station, the Swansea 77 could turn right, heading west on Bloor Street to Windermere Avenue and then head south on Windermere. Going north on Runnymede, the bus must go uphill, which would slow its speed, he said.
"A meeting is in the works," he said.